Caller identification for missed calls

ABSTRACT

Methods and devices are provided for identifying a caller after receiving a missed call from a calling device that is not associated with the caller. An exemplary method involves obtaining an audio message from the caller, recognizing the caller as being a first contact of the called individual by matching an audio sample associated with the first contact to at least a portion of the audio message, and graphically indicating an association between the first contact and the missed call after recognizing the first contact as the caller.

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.13/170,274, filed Jun. 28, 2011, the entire contents of which is herebyincorporated by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

Embodiments of the subject matter described herein relate generally tocommunications devices and systems, and more particularly, embodimentsof the subject matter relate to identifying a known contact after amissed call from a device that is not associated with that contact.

BACKGROUND

Call screening is commonly employed by individuals to decide whether anincoming call should be answered. Often, an individual will decline toanswer an incoming call from a phone number that he or she does notrecognize, due to the likelihood of that call being initiated by atelemarketer, prank caller, or an otherwise unfamiliar person (e.g., anuisance call). In other cases, an individual may decline to answer anincoming call from a phone number that he or she recognizes to avoidtalking to the particular individual associated with that phone numberat that time.

While call screening may be convenient or beneficial in manycircumstances, call screening can also have unanticipated or otherwiseunintended consequences. For example, the incoming call may be from aknown contact that the individual is anticipating a call from or whomthe individual would otherwise desire to answer calls from, however, theincoming call may be from a phone number that is unfamiliar to theindividual (e.g., due to that known contact's mobile device lackingservice at his current location or lacking sufficient battery power tomake the call, or when that contact has changed mobile devices or phonenumbers). Furthermore, in some situations, the known contact may have anurgent need to reach the called individual but may be unable to do sodue to the call screening by the called individual, and at the sametime, the called individual is unaware of the known contact's urgentneed to reach the called individual. Accordingly, it is desirable tomitigate undesirable or otherwise unintended consequences of callscreening.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A more complete understanding of the subject matter may be derived byreferring to the detailed description and claims when considered inconjunction with the following figures, wherein like reference numbersrefer to similar elements throughout the figures.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an exemplary electronic device inaccordance with one embodiment;

FIG. 2 is a flow diagram of an identification process suitable for usewith the electronic device of FIG. 1 in accordance with one embodiment;

FIG. 3 depicts an exemplary call history display suitable for display bythe electronic device of FIG. 1 in accordance with one embodiment;

FIG. 4 depicts the updated call history display of FIG. 3 in accordancewith one exemplary embodiment of the identification process of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of an exemplary communications system suitablefor use with the identification process of FIG. 2 in accordance with oneembodiment; and

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating communications within thecommunications system of FIG. 5 in accordance with an exemplaryembodiment of the identification process of FIG. 2.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following detailed description is merely illustrative in nature andis not intended to limit the embodiments of the subject matter or theapplication and uses of such embodiments. As used herein, the word“exemplary” means “serving as an example, instance, or illustration,”and any implementation described herein as exemplary is not necessarilyto be construed as preferred or advantageous over other implementations.Furthermore, there is no intention to be bound by any expressed orimplied theory presented in the preceding technical field, background,or the following detailed description.

Embodiments of the subject matter described herein relate to identifyingthe caller responsible for a missed call after receiving at least aportion of an audio message from the caller. As used herein, a “missedcall,” “rejected call,” or variants thereof should be understood asreferring to a failed attempt to establish real-time audiocommunications between the user of the call-initiating device (orcalling device) and the user of the targeted device for the call, or, inother words, a failure to establish communications between the caller(or calling party) and the call recipient (or called party). Asdescribed in greater detail below, after the user of the targeted device(or called device) fails to answer the incoming call from the callingdevice, the caller (i.e., the user of the calling device) provides anaudio message intended for the user associated with the targeted device.The received audio message (or a portion thereof) is compared to one ormore audio samples associated with the called individual's contacts orother known callers of the targeted device (e.g., contacts in the calledindividual's phone book or contact list on the targeted device), andspeech recognition (or voice recognition) techniques are used to matchthe source of the received audio message to one of the audio samplesassociated with one of the called individual's known contacts, therebyidentifying that matching contact as being responsible for the missedcall.

After the received audio message is matched to a known contact, the useris graphically indicated of the association between the missed call andthe matching contact. For example, after the missed call, the targeteddevice initially displays a graphical indication of the missed call asbeing from the calling device (e.g., in a call history display or missedcalls display), and indicates that the user of the calling device isunknown or otherwise unfamiliar if the calling device does notcorrespond to any of the called individual's contacts. Subsequently, inresponse to matching the received audio message to a known contact usingvoice-recognition techniques, the targeted device automatically updatesthe display on the targeted device to identify that the missed call fromthe calling device was attributable to or otherwise associated with thematching contact. In this regard, when the calling device is unknown tothe user of the targeted device (e.g., the missed call is from anunknown number), the user of the targeted device may be apprised thatthe missed call is attributable to a caller that the user is familiarwith. In response, the user of the targeted device may decide topromptly return a call to the caller (e.g., by calling the numberassociated with the missed call or calling a different number previouslyassociated with the matched contact) or listen to the received audiomessage, rather than ignoring the missed call or audio message for anextended period of time.

FIG. 1 depicts an exemplary embodiment of an electronic device 100 suchas, a mobile communications device (e.g., cellular phone, tablet,personal digital assistant, and the like), a computer, a telephone, aset top box, or another suitable electronic device capable of receivingor otherwise routing incoming calls. In an exemplary embodiment, theelectronic device 100 includes, without limitation, an input device 102,a display device 104, a communications arrangement 106, a memory 108,and a control module 110. It should be understood that FIG. 1 is asimplified representation of an electronic device 100 for purposes ofexplanation and is not intended to limit the scope of the subject matterin any way.

In the illustrated embodiment, the input device 102 generally representsthe hardware, software, firmware, or combinations thereof configured toprovide a user interface with the electronic device 100. Depending onthe embodiment, the input device 102 may be realized as a key pad, akeyboard, one or more buttons, a touch panel, a touchscreen, an audioinput device (e.g., a microphone), or the like. The control module 110is coupled to the input device 102 to receive input from the user of theelectronic device 100 via the input device 102 and facilitate operationof the electronic device 100 in accordance with the received user input.The display device 104 is realized as an electronic display configuredto graphically display information or content under control of thecontrol module 110. Depending on the embodiment, the display device 104may be realized as a liquid crystal display, a light emitting diodedisplay, an organic light emitting diode display, a plasma display, oranother suitable electronic display. The control module 110 is coupledto the display device 104, and the control module 110 controls thedisplay and rendering of content on the display device 104, as describedin greater detail below. The communications arrangement 106 generallyrepresents the hardware, software, firmware, or combinations thereofconfigured to transmit and receive incoming communications and signalsdirected to and from the electronic device 100 via one or morecommunications channels in a conventional manner. In this regard, inpractice, the communications arrangement 106 may include one or moreamplifiers, filters, modulators, and demodulators, digital-to-analogconverters, analog-to-digital converters, mixers, antennas, and thelike. The communications arrangement 106 is coupled to the controlmodule 110, and the communications arrangement 106 and the controlmodule 110 are cooperatively configured to support communications to andfrom the electronic device 100 in a conventional manner, as will beappreciated in the art.

In an exemplary embodiment, the control module 110 generally representsthe hardware, software, firmware, processing logic, or other componentsof the electronic device 100 configured to support operation of theelectronic device 100 and execute various functions or processing tasksdescribed in greater detail below. Depending on the embodiment, thecontrol module 110 may be implemented or realized with a general purposeprocessor, a microprocessor, a controller, a microcontroller, a statemachine, a content-addressable memory, an application-specificintegrated circuit, a field-programmable gate array, any suitableprogrammable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic, discretehardware components, or any combination thereof, designed to perform thefunctions described herein. Furthermore, the steps of a method oralgorithm described in connection with the embodiments disclosed hereinmay be embodied directly in hardware, in firmware, in a software moduleexecuted by the control module 110, or in any practical combinationthereof. The memory 108 represents any non-transitory short or long termstorage medium capable of storing programming instructions for executionby the control module 110, including any sort of random access memory,read only memory, flash memory, registers, hard disks, removable disks,magnetic or optical mass storage, or the like. The programminginstructions, when read and executed by the control module 110, causethe control module 110 to perform certain tasks, operations, functions,and processes described in more detail herein.

In an exemplary embodiment, the memory 108 stores or otherwise maintainsinformation pertaining to contacts of the user of the electronic device100, that is, potential callers of the electronic device 100 that theuser is familiar with. For example, the memory 108 may support a contactlist or phone book feature, wherein the memory 108 includes, for eachrespective contact, a name associated with that contact (e.g., thecontact's given name, nickname, or the like), an image associated withthat contact (e.g., a photograph of the contact), and contactinformation associated with that contact (e.g., one or more phonenumbers, email addresses, and the like). Additionally, the memory 108may also store one or more audio samples associated with each contact,wherein each of the audio samples consists of previously recorded audiospoken by its associated contact. As described in greater detail below,the audio samples function as models used by the control module 110 whenperforming speech recognition (or voice recognition) on a received audiomessage to identify the source of the audio message.

Turning now to FIG. 2, in an exemplary embodiment, the electronic device100 is configured to perform an identification process 200 andadditional tasks, functions, or operations as described below. Thevarious tasks may be performed by software, hardware, firmware, or anycombination thereof. For illustrative purposes, the followingdescription may refer to elements mentioned above in connection withFIG. 1. In practice, the tasks, functions, and operations may beperformed by different elements of the described system, such as thedisplay device 104, the memory 108, or the control module 110. It shouldbe appreciated any number of additional or alternative tasks may beincluded and may be incorporated into a more comprehensive procedure orprocess having additional functionality not described in detail herein.

Referring to FIG. 2, and with continued reference to FIG. 1, theidentification process 200 may be performed by a targeted device (orcalled device) after a missed call to the targeted device to identify,to the user of the targeted device, the source of the missed call. Inthis regard, the identification process 200 does not begin until after afailed attempt to establish communications with the user of the targeteddevice. For example, the caller may manipulate the call initiatingdevice (or calling device) to initiate an attempt to establishcommunications with the targeted device. Subsequently, the targeteddevice may notify its user (e.g., auditorily, visually, or haptically)of the incoming call, and in response, the user of the targeted devicemay ignore or otherwise refuse to answer the incoming call (e.g., bymanipulating the input device 102 or by letting the incoming calltimeout).

In an exemplary embodiment, the identification process 200 begins bydisplaying or otherwise providing a graphical indication of the missedcall from the calling device (task 202). In this regard, the controlmodule 110 may identify or otherwise obtain an identifier associatedwith the calling device, such as a phone number associated with thecalling device, and display, on the display device 104, a graphicalindication of a missed call that includes or otherwise incorporates thephone number associated with the calling device, thereby indicating thatthe missed call is from the calling device. For example, as illustratedin FIG. 3, the control module 110 may display, on the display device104, a call history 300 that includes a listing of previous calls to orfrom the targeted device 100. In response to the missed call from thecalling device, the control module 110 may update the call history 300to include an entry 302 corresponding to the missed call from thecalling device. As illustrated, the missed call entry 302 correspondingto the calling device includes the phone number associated with thecalling device. In an exemplary embodiment, the control module 110searches the contact list maintained by memory 108 for a contactassociated with the phone number of the calling device. In response tofailing to identify a contact in the memory 108 having an associatedphone number matching the phone number of the calling device, thecontrol module 110 modifies the displayed missed call entry 302 toindicate that the calling device is not associated with any of theuser's contacts (e.g., the missed call is attributable to an unknowncaller). Conversely, if the control module 110 identifies a contact inmemory 108 associated with a phone number matching the phone number ofthe calling device, the control module 110 updates the missed call entryto display information associated with that contact in connection withthe graphical indication of the missed call (e.g., the name or imageassociated with that contact).

Referring again to FIG. 2, in an exemplary embodiment, theidentification process 200 continues by receiving an audio message(e.g., a voicemail message) from the user of the calling device afterthe missed call has occurred (task 204). In this regard, after thetargeted device fails to answer the incoming call from the callingdevice, the caller may be prompted to leave a message for the user ofthe targeted device (e.g., by playing back a voicemail greeting for theuser of the targeted device). In response, the caller may begin speakingor otherwise providing audio that is captured, recorded, or otherwisereceived by the calling device and transmitted to the targeted device,wherein the targeted device may receive the audio message (e.g., via thecommunications arrangement 106) and store the audio message in memory108.

In an exemplary embodiment, after receiving at least a portion of theaudio message from the caller, the identification process 200 continuesby comparing the received portion of the audio message to the audiosamples associated with contacts of the called individual to determineor otherwise identify whether the audio message matches a known callerof the targeted device (task 206). In this regard, the control module110 obtains one or more audio samples from the memory 108 and performsspeech-recognition or voice-recognition techniques using the obtainedaudio samples as speaker models to attempt to match the audio message toone of the audio samples, and thereby match the source of the audiomessage to one of the user's contacts. In an exemplary embodiment, thecontrol module 110 compares the received audio message (or a portionthereof) to each of the audio samples in the memory 108 untilidentifying an audio sample in the memory 108 that matches the receivedaudio from the caller with a sufficiently high level of confidence thatthe received audio and the stored audio sample have a common speaker. Asillustrated in FIG. 2, when the identification process 200 is unable toidentify a matching contact after comparing the received audio messageto all of the stored audio samples, the identification process 200exits, and the displayed call history remains unaltered (i.e., callhistory 300 and missed call entry 302 remain in the state illustrated inFIG. 3).

In response to identifying or otherwise determining that one of thestored audio samples matches the speaker of the received audio message,the identification process 200 continues by graphically indicating thatthe missed call is attributable to the contact associated with the audiosample that matches the received audio message (task 210). In thisregard, the control module 110 obtains, from the memory 108, one or moreattributes associated with the contact associated with the matchingaudio sample (e.g., the name of the matching contact, the imageassociated with the matching contact, and the like) and displays theobtained attributes associated with the matching contact on the displaydevice 104 in association with the graphical indication of the missedcall. For example, as illustrated in FIG. 4, the control module 110 mayautomatically update the missed call entry 302 in the call history 300in response to identifying a matching contact by displaying, in themissed call entry 302, the name 402 associated with the matching contact(e.g., the matching contact's first name) and the image 404 associatedwith the matching contact (e.g., a picture of the matching contactstored in memory 108). In this manner, the stored attributes for thematching contact (e.g., the name and picture) are displayed inassociation with or otherwise in proximity to the identifier of thecalling device (e.g., the unknown number associated with the callingdevice), thereby indicating that the missed call is attributable to acontact or caller that is known to the user of the targeted device 100when there is no pre-existing association between that contact and thecalling device or when that contact is associated with a phone number ordevice different from the calling device. As a result, when the calledindividual views the call history 300 on the targeted device 100, thecalled individual can readily ascertain that the missed call from anunknown number was from a known contact, such as, for example, a knowncontact that the called individual was anticipating a call from or isotherwise interested in speaking to. In response, the user of thetargeted device 100 may promptly respond to the missed call in anappropriate manner (e.g., placing a call to the unknown number,listening to the received audio message, etc.) rather than disregardingthe missed call as a nuisance call. As illustrated in FIG. 4, theidentification process 200 may continue displaying an indication withinthe missed call entry 302 that the missed call was from an unknown phonenumber or device rather than a phone number or device associated withthe matching contact in memory 108.

Still referring to FIG. 2, it should be noted that although notillustrated in FIG. 4, in addition to graphically indicating that themissed call was associated with or otherwise attributable to a knowncontact in the call history 300, the identification process 200 may alsographically indicate that the received audio message is associated withthe known contact. For example, after receiving the audio message, thecontrol module 110 may display, on the display device 104, a graphicalindication of an available audio message (e.g., a voicemailnotification) that includes or otherwise indicates that the audiomessage was from the matching contact. In a similar manner to thatdescribed above, the control module 110 may display, on the displaydevice 104, a graphical indication of the audio message (e.g., avoicemail notification) that includes one or more attributes associatedwith the matching contact (e.g., the matching contact's name, picture,or the like), thereby indicating that the received audio message wasprovided by a known contact. As a result, when the called individualviews the voicemail notification, the called individual can readilyascertain that the voicemail message was from a known contact 402 (asopposed to an unknown source 302) and make a prompt and informeddecision as to whether to return the call or to listen to the audiomessage, rather than indefinitely ignoring or otherwise disregarding theaudio message on the basis of the audio message being from an unknownphone number or unknown device.

It should be noted that although FIGS. 3 and 4 depict an exemplarysituation where the missed call was from an unknown calling device orunknown phone number (i.e., a phone number that did not match any storedin memory 108), the identification process 200 may also be performedwhen the missed call is from a known calling device or known phonenumber (i.e., a phone number that matches a contact stored in memory108). For example, if the control module 110 identifies a contact storedin memory 108 having an associated phone number that matches the phonenumber associated with the calling device, the control module 110 mayinitially display the attributes associated with that contact (e.g.,that contact's name, picture, and the like) in association with thegraphical indication of the missed call. Subsequently, the controlmodule 110 may receive the audio message (or a portion thereof) providedby the caller using the known calling device, and compare the receivedaudio message (or a portion thereof) to one or more audio samples inmemory 108 in a similar manner to that described above (e.g., tasks 204,206). In response to identifying or otherwise determining that a storedaudio sample associated with a different contact matches the speaker ofthe received audio message (e.g., a contact associated with a phonenumber different from that of the calling device), the control module110 may automatically update the missed call entry on the display device104 by replacing the displayed attributes corresponding to contactassociated with the calling device with attributes associated with thematching contact who was identified as being the speaker of the audiomessage. This may be advantageous in situations where the calledindividual screened the incoming call that was ostensibly from theindividual associated with the calling device (e.g., because the calledindividual does not want to speak to that individual at that time). Whenthe called individual subsequently views the call history, the calledindividual can readily ascertain that the missed call was in fact from adifferent contact whom the called individual did not intend to screenbut happened to be calling from the phone number or device associatedwith another contact that the called individual intended to screen.

FIG. 5 depicts an exemplary communications system 500 suitable forimplementing the identification process 200. The illustrated embodimentof the communications system 500 includes, without limitation, acall-initiating device 502, a targeted device 504, and a communicationsnetwork 506. As illustrated, the communications network 506 is coupledto or otherwise includes a server 508 configured to support theidentification process 200, as described in greater detail below. Itshould be understood that FIG. 5 is a simplified representation of thecommunications system 500 for purposes of explanation and is notintended to limit the scope of the subject matter in any way.

In an exemplary embodiment, the calling device 502 and the called device504 are each realized as an electronic device (e.g., an electronicdevice 100), such as a cellular phone or another comparable mobilecommunications device. The communications network 506 generallyrepresents the hardware, software, firmware, processing logic, or otherinfrastructure components configured to support communications betweenthe two devices 502, 504. Depending on the embodiment, thecommunications network 506 may be realized as a cellular network oranother suitable radio network, a switched telephone network, a computernetwork (e.g., using voice over IP over wide area networks or the likerather than cellular communications), or a combination thereof. Forexample, in practice, the communications network 506 may be realized asa combination of smaller networks associated with different serviceproviders that may employ different communications technologies andprotocols.

In the illustrated embodiment, the server 508 generally represents acomputing system or other electronic device coupled to the network 506to support the identification process 200 in connection with devices502, 504 communicating via the network 506. In an exemplary embodiment,the server 508 includes one or more control modules or other hardware,software, firmware, processing logic, or other components configured tosupport operation of the identification process 200 and to executevarious functions and processing tasks described in greater detailbelow. Additionally, the server 508 includes memory that stores orotherwise maintains audio samples associated with the contacts of theuser of the called device 504.

FIG. 6 illustrates an exemplary sequence of communications within thecommunications system 500 in accordance with an exemplary embodiment ofthe identification process 200. As illustrated, the communications beginafter the caller has manipulated or otherwise operated the callingdevice 502 place a call to the target device 504, thereby transmitting,via the network 506, signals or information 602 to the server 508indicating a desire to establish communications between the user of thecalling device 502 and the user of the target device 504. In response,the server 508 transmits, via the network 506, corresponding signals orinformation 604 to the target device 504 for establishing communicationsbetween the devices 502, 504. In the illustrated embodiment, the user ofthe targeted device 504 fails to answer the incoming call due, forexample, to the phone number of the calling device 502 being unknown tothe user of the target device 504 (e.g., the phone number of the callingdevice 502 is not associated with any of the called individual'scontacts), resulting in the targeted device 504 transmitting signals orinformation 606 indicative of the failure to establish communicationsbetween the devices 502, 504. In some embodiments, the information 606transmitted back via the network 506 by the targeted device 504 also mayinclude the voicemail greeting for the user of the targeted device 504,while in other embodiments, the voicemail greeting for the user of thetargeted device 504 may be maintained in the memory on the server 508.As described above, after the failure to answer the incoming call fromthe calling device 502, the called device 504 is configured to display amissed call entry indicating the missed call from the calling device 502(e.g., task 202). For example, the called device 504 may display callhistory including a missed-call entry corresponding to the callingdevice 502 in a similar manner to that described above in the context ofFIG. 3.

Still referring to FIG. 6, in response to the signals or information 606from the called device 504 indicating that the attempt to establishcommunication was unsuccessful, the server 508 transmits signals orinformation 608 back to the calling device 502 indicating the missedcall along with the voicemail greeting for the user of the called device504. After the voicemail greeting is completed, the user of the callingdevice 502 begins speaking or otherwise providing an audio message 610which is captured or otherwise recorded by the calling device 502 andtransmitted to the server 508 via the network 506. The server 508receives the audio message 610 from the calling device 502 (task 204)and after receiving at least a portion of the audio message 610, beginscomparing the received audio message 610 (or a portion thereof) to oneor more audio samples stored on the server 508 that are associated withknown callers of the called device 504 (e.g., contacts of the user ofthe called device 504) (task 206). In response to identifying orotherwise determining that the speaker of one of the stored audiosamples matches the speaker of the received audio message 610 (task208), the server 508 transmits signals or information 612 to the calleddevice 504 indicating the matching contact associated with the recentlymissed call. In response to receiving indication of the matching contactassociated with the missed call, the called device 504 automaticallyupdates the graphical indication of the missed call to indicate that thematching contact was associated with the missed call (task 210). Forexample, as described above in the context of FIG. 4, the called device504 may automatically update the missed-call entry for the missed callfrom the calling device 502 to include attributes associated with thematching contact that are displayed in association with the phone numberor other identifiers corresponding to the calling device 502.Additionally, it should be noted that in some embodiments, theinformation 612 provided by the server 508 may also indicate theavailability of an audio message (or voicemail) from the matchingcontact, wherein in response to receiving the indication from the server508, the called device 504 displays a graphical indication of anavailable audio message (e.g., a voicemail notification) that includesor otherwise indicates that the audio message was from the matchingcontact. It should be noted that in some embodiments, the information612 transmitted to the called device 504 by the server 508 may includethe audio message received from the calling device 502 allowing theaudio message to be played back on the called device 504, while in otherembodiments, the audio message 610 may be stored or otherwise maintainedon the server 508, wherein the called device 504 calls or otherwiseaccesses the server 508 to receive the audio message (e.g., afterreceiving the voicemail notification).

It should be noted that although the subject matter described herein isdescribed in the context of the graphical indication of the missed calland the associated matching contact being displayed on the calleddevice, in practice, the graphical indication of the missed call and theassociated matching contact may be displayed on a device other than thecalled device. For example, incoming calls to the targeted device may berouted through an intermediate device, such as a set-top box, modem,router, or the like, which includes or is otherwise coupled to a displaydevice, such as a television, that is separate from the targeted device.In this regard, the intermediate device, such as a set-top box, maydisplay an indication of the missed call on a television or otherdisplay device different from the display device of the targeted deviceand automatically update the graphical indication of the missed call toindicate the matching contact associated with the missed call orotherwise graphically indicate the availability of an audio message fromthe matching contact. Furthermore, in some embodiments, the intermediatedevice may be utilized to perform one or more of the tasks describedabove in the context of the server 508. For example, calls may be routedthrough a set-top box which also stores or otherwise maintains audiosamples associated with the contacts of the user of the called device,receives the audio message from the calling device, and compares thereceived audio message to the one or more audio samples stored on theset-top box to identify the contact associated with the missed call.

To briefly summarize, one advantage of the subject matter describedabove in the context of FIGS. 1 through 6 is that a called individualmay be apprised of the fact that a missed call or voicemail from anunknown phone number or device is associated with or otherwiseattributable to one of the called individual's existing contacts withoutinconveniencing the called individual or the caller. For example, aknown contact of the individual being called may borrow the mobiledevice of another person, whom the individual being called is unfamiliarwith and having a phone number not previously associated with the knowncontact. The called individual may fail to recognize the phone numberassociated with the incoming call and screen the call. After the missedcall, the called device may display a graphical indication of the missedcall from the unknown number and the known contact may provide an audiomessage for the called individual. After the audio message has beencompletely received or while the audio message is still being received,the received audio message (or a portion thereof) is compared to audiosamples associated with the called individual's contacts. When the audiomessage is matched to the known contact, the called device automaticallyupdates the graphical indication of the missed call to include the name,picture, or other identifying information associated with matchingcontact to thereby indicate that the missed call is attributable to thematching contact calling from the unknown number. Additionally, thecalled device may graphically indicate an available audio message fromthe matching contact. Thus, the called individual is promptly apprisedof the identify of the previously assumed “unknown” caller, therebyallowing the called individual to make an informed decision as towhether to return the phone call to the unknown number, listen to theaudio message from the matching contact, or otherwise attempt toestablish communication with the matching contact in an alternativemanner (e.g., via e-mail, instant messaging, text messaging, or thelike). It should be noted that in some embodiments, the called devicemay be capable of identifying the caller as one of the calledindividual's contacts while the caller is providing the audio message,and in such embodiments, the called individual may be able to manipulatethe called device to establish communication with the caller while thecaller is still in the process of providing the audio message.

For the sake of brevity, conventional techniques related tocommunications networks, communications devices, communicationsprotocols and signaling, speech recognition or voice recognition,voicemail services or servers, and other functional aspects of thesystems (and the individual operating components of the systems) may notbe described in detail herein. Furthermore, the connecting lines shownin the various figures contained herein are intended to representexample functional relationships or physical couplings between thevarious elements. It should be noted that many alternative or additionalfunctional relationships or physical connections may be present in apractical embodiment.

While at least one example embodiment has been presented in theforegoing detailed description, it should be appreciated that a vastnumber of variations exist. It should also be appreciated that theexample embodiment or embodiments described herein are not intended tolimit the scope, applicability, or configuration of the claimed subjectmatter in any way. Rather, the foregoing detailed description willprovide those skilled in the art with a convenient road map forimplementing the described embodiment or embodiments. It should beunderstood that various changes can be made in the function andarrangement of elements without departing from the scope defined by theclaims, which includes known equivalents and foreseeable equivalents atthe time of filing this patent application.

1-13. (canceled)
 14. A method comprising: receiving, by a server, anaudio message from a call-initiating device after a missed call from thecall-initiating device to a called device; responsive to receiving atleast a portion of the audio message, identifying, by the server, andbased on the portion of the audio message and an audio sample associatedwith a first contact, a user of the call-initiating device as the firstcontact; and responsive to identifying the user of the call-initiatingdevice, sending, by the server and to the called device, informationincluding an identifier associated with the first contact, wherein thecall-initiating device is associated with a second contact, wherein thefirst contact is associated with a first device.
 15. (canceled)
 16. Themethod of claim 14, wherein: the server has a plurality of audio samplesstored thereon, each audio sample of the plurality of audio samplesbeing associated with a contact of a plurality of contacts, and thefirst contact is one of the plurality of contacts, identifying the knowncaller comprises: comparing, by the server, the portion of the audiomessage to one or more audio samples of the plurality of audio samples;determining, by the server, that the portion of the audio messagematches a first audio sample of the one or more audio samples, the firstaudio sample being associated with the first contact, and the identifierassociated with the first contact is automatically sent, by the serverand to the called device, in response to determining that the portion ofthe audio message matches the first audio sample.
 17. (canceled)
 18. Afirst mobile device comprising: a display device; a memory having aplurality of audio samples stored thereon; and a control module coupledto the display device and to the memory, wherein the control module isconfigured to: receive an audio message from a caller after a missedcall from a calling device to the first mobile device; recognize thecaller as a first contact in response to matching an audio sampleassociated with the first contact to at least a portion of the audiomessage; and after recognizing the caller as the first contact,graphically indicate, on the display device, an association between thefirst contact and the missed call, wherein the calling device isassociated with a second contact, wherein the first contact isassociated with a second mobile device, and wherein the calling devicecomprises a third mobile device associated with the second contact. 19.The first mobile device of claim 18, wherein: the memory has storedthereon an identifier associated with the first contact, and the controlmodule is further configured to: display, on the display device, agraphical indication of the missed call; and automatically update thegraphical indication of the missed call to include the identifierassociated with the first contact in response to recognizing the calleras the first contact.
 20. The first mobile device of claim 19 whereinthe identifier associated with the first contact is a name or an image.21. The first mobile device of claim 18, wherein: the display device isconfigured to display a graphical indication of the missed call prior tothe control module recognizing the first contact, wherein the graphicalindication of the missed call includes an identifier associated with thesecond contact, and the control module is configured to automaticallyupdate the graphical indication of the missed call to include anidentifier associated with the first contact in response to recognizingthe first contact.
 22. The first mobile device of claim 18, wherein: thefirst identifier is a name or an image associated with the firstcontact; and the second identifier is a number associated with thecalling device.
 23. The first mobile device of claim 18, wherein thecontrol module is configured to: graphically indicate the callerassociated with the missed call is unknown prior to recognizing thecaller as the first contact; and responsive to recognizing the caller asthe first contact, update the graphical indication of the missed call toinclude an identifier associated with the first contact.
 24. The methodof claim 14, wherein the identifier of the first contact is a nameassociated with the first contact or an image associated with the firstcontact.
 25. The method of claim 14, wherein the information sent by theserver and to the called device includes an identifier associated withthe second contact.
 26. The method of claim 25, wherein: the identifierassociated with the first contact is a name or an image associated withthe first contact, and the identifier associated with the second contactis a number associated with the call-initiating device.
 27. The methodof claim 14, wherein there is no pre-existing association between thefirst contact and the call-initiating device.
 28. The method of claim14, wherein the information sent by the server and to the called deviceincludes at least one of an indication of availability of the audiomessage, or the audio message.
 29. A device comprising: one or moreprocessors; a memory configured to store a plurality of audio sampleseach associated with a respective contact from a plurality of contacts;communications arrangement configured to receive an audio message from acall-initiating device after a missed call from the call-initiatingdevice to a called device; and a control module operable by the one ormore processors to: identify, based on at least a portion of the audiomessage and the plurality of audio samples, a user of thecall-initiating device as a first contact from the plurality ofcontacts; and responsive to identifying the first contact, send, via thecommunications arrangement, to the called device, information includingan identifier associated with the first contact, wherein thecall-initiating device is associated with a second contact, wherein thefirst contact is associated with a first device, and wherein thecall-initiating device comprises a second device associated with thesecond contact.
 30. The device of claim 29, wherein the control moduleis operable by the one or more processors to: compare the portion of theaudio message to one or more audio samples of the plurality of audiosamples; determine that the portion of the audio message matches a firstaudio sample of the one or more audio samples, the first audio samplebeing associated with the first contact; and send the identifierassociated with the first contact in response to determining that theportion of the audio message matches the first audio sample.
 31. Thedevice of claim 29, wherein the identifier of the first contact is aname associated with the first contact or an image associated with thefirst contact.
 32. The device of claim 29, wherein the information sentby the server and to the called device includes an identifier associatedwith the second contact.
 33. The device of claim 32, wherein: theidentifier associated with the first contact is a name or an imageassociated with the first contact, and the identifier associated withthe second contact is a number associated with the call-initiatingdevice.
 34. The device of claim 29, wherein there is no pre-existingassociation between the first contact and the call-initiating device.35. The device of claim 29, wherein the information sent by the serverand to the called device includes at least one of an indication ofavailability of the audio message, or the audio message.